Boulder Shoulders: The Best Shoulder Workout

When it comes to building an aesthetic and powerful looking physique, nothing is more important than big, broad shoulders.

A well-formed set of boulders is the foundation of the V-taper that makes for a head-turning physique. The V-taper is achieved with muscular shoulders, fully developed lats, and a small waistline.

Many shoulder routines lack variety and only develop the middle section of the deltoids. If you want jacked shoulders, it’s time to start focusing on developing all three sections of the deltoid muscles: the lateral, anterior, and posterior.

The Best Shoulder Exercises

While many athletes perform standard presses such as the dumbbell shoulder press and barbell military press (which are extremely important), these exercise mainly target the middle head of the deltoid, and the anterior and posterior delts are left neglected.

Take for instance the dumbbell shoulder press, one of the best mass building shoulder exercises used by athletes at every level.

If you performed the dumbbell shoulder press with 55 lbs for 7 reps in your last workout, push yourself to do 8 reps with the same weight the following workout, or move up to 60 lbs and do 7 reps again.

This simple principle forces the muscles to respond and grow bigger and stronger.

This may sound extremely basic, but too many people in the gym don’t follow this simple, effective principle. It’s the little things that make a huge difference.

2. Train all three heads of the deltoid muscles

As we mentioned earlier, deltoids actually have three sections. Unfortunately, many people fail to realize this, which is why you rarely see a shoulder with the front, middle, and rear portion fully developed.

Without adequate development in all three sections, it’s nearly impossible to form those powerful looking boulders.

The difference between the average guy who is fairly lean and muscular with some ab definition and the ripped fitness model is all in the V-taper, and for many people, developing the anterior and posterior deltoid muscles is the missing link for achieving that sought-after shape.

Try to follow these three principles when planning your training regimen:

Vary the exercises used to target each section of the shoulders. Aim to have 4-5 solid exercises that work the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoid, and change these up every so often.

Make sure to vary your repetition ranges. This means performing heavy sets with the maximum amount of overload on your delts some days and performing high rep sets on other days.

Vary your rest time between sets. One of the best ways to stimulate growth is a combination of heavy sets with short rest times.

So what does shoulder training for huge delts look like? The following routine will develop all three deltoid sections and unleashes powerful gains. Check it out:

Boulder Shoulders: The Best Shoulder Workout for Mass

1. Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Sets: 4

Reps: 5-10

Rest Time: 60-90 seconds

Pace: 2 seconds down

2. Standing Barbell Military Press

Sets: 4

Reps: 5

Rest Time: 120 seconds

Pace: 2 seconds down

3. Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Sets: 4

Reps: 6-10

Rest Time: 75 seconds

Pace: 2:1 (two seconds down, one second up)

4. Dumbbell Arnold Press

Sets: 3

Reps: 8-12

Rest Time: 60 seconds

Pace: 2:2

5. Dumbbell Shrugs

Sets: 4

Reps: 8-12

Rest Time: 75 seconds

Pace: 2:1

6. Seated Dumbbell Rear Deltoid Raise

Sets: 4

Reps: 10-15

Rest Time: 75 seconds

Pace: 2:1

Try it out and work on transforming those shoulders into boulders. Make sure to keep strict form while doing heavy shoulder presses, as it’s easy to get out of line and end up with an injury. Avoid behind the neck presses!

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